1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus such as a printer, a facsimile machine, a copying machine or the like, and more particularly, to a recording apparatus which records images, characters and the like to a rolled recording material such as a rolled recording paper, a rolled recording film or the like.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, as a recording apparatus which performs recording to a rolled recording material, generally, the apparatus of the structure described as follows is known.
FIG. 10 is a sectional view showing a structural example (of a paper path) of the conventional recording apparatus. The recording apparatus shown in FIG. 10 adopts an ink-jet system in which a recording head performs recording as scanning on the rolled recording material, and intermittently conveys the rolled recording material while the recording is being performed. In the recording apparatus, a rolled recording paper (called a rolled paper hereinafter) is used as the rolled recording material.
The recording apparatus shown in FIG. 10 roughly consists of a roll folder 100 which rotatably holds and feeds a rolled paper Pr, a recording unit 130 which records images, characters and the like onto the rolled paper Pr in a state that the rolled paper Pr is held on a platen 134, a rolled paper conveying unit 110 which conveys the rolled paper Pr from the roll folder 100 to the recording unit 130, a discharge unit 140 which cuts the rolled paper Pr to which the recording was performed by the recording unit 130 and discharges the cut paper outside the recording apparatus, and an in-path rolled paper sensor 115 which detects presence and absence of the rolled paper Pr in the conveying path of the rolled paper conveying unit 110.
The roll folder 100 includes a rotatably supported spool 101, and the rolled paper Pr is rolled around a paper tube. When the rolled paper Pr is put inside the roll folder 100, the spool 101 is passed internally in the paper tube, and the spool 101 and the paper tube are then fixed. Hereinafter, the paper tube and the spool are together called the spool. Moreover, the leading edge (A in FIG. 10) of the rolled paper Pr is set as being nipped by a feed roller 102. If the rolled paper Pr is drawn out by the feed roller 102 in such a state, the rolled paper Pr and the spool 101 in the roll folder 100 are integrally rotated.
The roll folder 100 is made drawable to this side of the apparatus (the right in FIG. 10), so that the rolled paper Pr can be easily exchanged.
Hereinafter, an operation of the recording apparatus structured as above will be explained.
First, a paper feed operation is started, and the rolled paper Pr is conveyed from the roll folder 100 by the rotation of the feed roller 102.
If the rolled paper Pr reaches the rolled paper conveying unit 110, this paper is then conveyed to the recording unit 130 by conveying force of a conveying roller 111 and guiding of pairs of conveying guides 113 and 114, and further conveyed onto the platen 134 as being rolled on the surface of a conveying roller 131.
If the leading edge of the rolled paper Pr passes a discharge sensor 144 in the discharge unit 140, the rolled paper Pr is stopped after elapsing predetermined time period.
Subsequently, a recording operation is started, and the images, the characters and the like are recorded, by a recording head 135, to the rolled paper Pr put on the platen 134.
If the recording operation ends, the rolled paper Pr is conveyed by a pre-cutter discharge roller 141 and a post-cutter discharge roller 143 until the recorded portion of the rolled paper Pr reaches the position at the downstream of a cutter 142.
After then, a cut operation is performed by the cutter 142, and the recorded portion of the rolled paper Pr is discharged outside the recording apparatus. On the other hand, the rolled paper Pr which remains in the apparatus is taken up until the leading edge of the remaining rolled paper Pr reaches the position nipped by the feed roller 102, and the printing operation ends.
Here, in the recording apparatus of FIG. 10, since the pre-cutter discharge roller 141 and the post-cutter discharge roller 143 used in the discharge unit 140 are disposed immediately after the recording unit 130, each of these rollers is formed by a spur roller or the like of which the press-contact force is small so that an impression or the like due to the press-contact force of the roller does not deteriorate image quality. For this reason, the conveying force of the pre-cutter discharge roller 141 and the post-cutter discharge roller 143 for the rolled paper Pr is weak.
Particularly, since the rolled paper Pr is in the state rolled around the paper tube, this paper is curled. Thus, there is a problem that, under discharging, the rolled paper Pr is caught in the conveying path because of the curl and thus stagnates or stands easily.
Therefore, after the paper cut, such the stagnation of the rolled paper Pr is prevented by pushing the cut paper with the paper remaining inside the apparatus.
Such a cut and discharge operation of the rolled paper Pr will be explained with reference to a flow chart of FIG. 11.
FIG. 11 is the flow chart for explaining the cut and discharge operation of the rolled paper to be performed after the recording operation in the recording apparatus of FIG. 10.
If the recording operation ends, the rolled paper Pr is first conveyed by the pre-cutter discharge roller 141 and the post-cutter discharge roller 143 until the recorded portion of the rolled paper Pr reaches the position at the downstream of the cutter 142 (step S1101).
Next, the rolled paper Pr is cut by the cutter 142 (step S1102), and the recorded portion of the cut rolled paper Pr is discharged outside the recording apparatus by the post-cutter discharge roller 143, and at the same time, the remaining rolled paper Pr is conveyed toward the discharge side by the conveying roller 131 and the pre-cutter discharge roller 141 (step S1103). Thus, if the rolled paper Pr remaining inside the apparatus is conveyed toward the discharge side, the rolled paper Pr cut by the cutter 142 is pushed outside the recording apparatus, whereby discharge capability of the rolled paper Pr is improved.
After then, the rolled paper Pr remaining inside the apparatus is taken up into the roll folder 100 (step S1104), and the cut and discharge operation of the rolled paper Pr ends.
Next, the structure of a spool rotation sensor mechanism within the roll folder 100 will be explained with reference to FIG. 12. It should be noted that the spool rotation sensor mechanism is the mechanism to detect the presence and the absence of the rolled paper Pr according to the rotation of the spool 101.
FIG. 12 is a view showing an example of the spool rotation sensor mechanism within the roll folder 100 shown in FIG. 10.
In FIG. 12, a disklike slit plate 104 is fixed to a core rod 103 of the spool 101, and plural slits are formed on the slit plate 104 at equiangular intervals. Further, a transmission optical sensor 105 is fixed within the roll folder 100, and an electrical pulse is generated at timing according to the rotational speed of the spool 101 by the transmission optical sensor 105, whereby the rotation of the spool 101 is detected according to whether or not the electrical pulse is generated. The spool 101 is not driven by the motive force of a motor or the like but is rotated according to the feed roller 102 when the rolled paper Pr is conveyed, while the spool 101 is driven by the motive force of a not-shown motor or the like when the rolled paper Pr is taken up.
Therefore, if the rolled paper Pr is used up on the spool 101 during the recording operation, any electrical pulse is not generated by the transmission optical sensor 105, and thus the rotation of the spool 101 is not detected, whereby it is possible to detect that there is no rolled paper Pr in the roll folder 100.
Hereinafter, a rolled paper conveying control operation to be performed based on the detected result of the in-path rolled paper sensor 115 and a rolled paper conveying control operation to be performed based on the detected result of the spool rotation sensor mechanism within the roll folder 100 will be explained.
First, the rolled paper conveying control operation to be performed based on the detected result of the in-path rolled paper sensor 115 will be explained with reference to a flow chart shown in FIG. 13.
FIG. 13 is the flow chart for explaining an example of the rolled paper conveying control operation in the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 10, that is, shows the rolled paper conveying control operation to be performed based on the detected result concerning the presence and the absence of the rolled paper by the in-path rolled paper sensor 115.
If the recording operation is started (step S1301), it is judged whether or not the absence of the rolled paper Pr is detected by the in-path rolled paper sensor 115 (step S1302). If the absence of the rolled paper Pr is not detected, when all the recording operations end (step S1303), the process ends.
On the other hand, if the absence of the rolled paper Pr is detected by the in-path rolled paper sensor 115 in the step S1302, the recording operation is suspended (step S1304), and the discharge operation of the rolled paper Pr to the outside of the recording apparatus is started (step S1305).
In the discharge operation of the rolled paper Pr, if the trailing edge of the rolled paper Pr is detected by the discharge sensor 144 (step S1306), it is considered that the rolled paper Pr is discharged outside the recording apparatus without terror after elapse of a predetermined time period, and the conveying of the rolled paper Pr is stopped (step S1307).
On the other hand, if the trailing edge of the rolled paper Pr is not detected by the discharge sensor 144 in the step S1306, it is considered, after elapse of a predetermined time period (step S1308), that a jam in discharging occurred (step S1309).
Next, the rolled paper conveying control operation to be performed based on the detected result of the spool rotation sensor mechanism within the roll folder 100 will be explained with reference to a flow chart shown in FIG. 14.
FIG. 14 is the flow chart for explaining another example of the rolled paper conveying control operation in the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 10, that is, shows the rolled paper conveying control operation to be performed based on the detected result concerning the presence and the absence of the rolled paper by the spool rotation sensor mechanism within the roll folder 100.
If the recording operation is started (step S1401), it is judged whether or not the rotation of the spool 101 is detected by the spool rotation sensor mechanism within the roll folder 100 (step S1402). If the rotation of the spool 101 is not detected, the absence of the rolled paper Pr on the spool 101 is detected, and information representing such a fact is stored in the recording apparatus (step S1403).
If all the recording operations end (step S1405), it is judged whether or not the absence of the rolled paper Pr on the spool 101 has been detected previously based on the information stored in the step S1403 (step S1406). If the absence of the rolled paper Pr on the spool 101 has not been detected, the rolled paper Pr is taken up into the roll folder 100 (step S1407).
On the other hand, if the absence of the rolled paper Pr on the spool 101 has been detected in the step S1406, the printing continued after the trailing edge of the rolled paper Pr had parted from the spool 101, the trailing edge of the rolled paper Pr might be located in the downstream of the conveying path rather than the feed roller 102 of the roll folder 100. Thus, in the case where the paper is taken up in the state that the trailing edge of the rolled paper Pr is located in the downstream of the conveying path rather than the feed roller 102 of the roll folder 100, if the paper is being curled, the jam might occur because the curled paper does not well enter the feed roller 102 of the roll folder 100. Thus, in this case, the rolled paper Pr is not taken up but discharged outside the recording apparatus (step S1408).
In the ordinary cut and discharge operation of the rolled paper in the step S1103 of FIG. 11, in order to prevent the stagnation of the rolled paper Pr after the paper cut in the conveying path because of its curl, the cut rolled paper Pr is discharged by the post-cutter discharge roller 143, and concurrently the rolled paper Pr remaining in the recording apparatus is further conveyed toward the discharge direction by the conveying roller 131 to push the cut rolled paper Pr outside. However, since the rolled paper discharge operation in the step S1408 of FIG. 14 is the operation to discharge the last portion of the paper outside the recording apparatus, there is no paper in the apparatus to push the discharged paper outside. Therefore, since the last portion of the rolled paper Pr is discharged only based on the conveying force of the post-cutter discharge roller 143, there is a fear that, in the discharge of the rolled paper Pr, this paper is caught in the conveying path in the discharge unit 140 because of its curl and thus stagnates or stands. In the discharge operation, if the post-cutter discharge roller 143 is driven and the absence of the paper is detected by the discharge sensor 144, it is determined that the discharge operation ended without error. Here, when the absence of the rolled paper Pr is not detected by the discharge sensor 144 even if the post-cutter discharge roller 143 is driven for predetermined time period, it is determined that the jam in discharging occurs.
Particularly, since the last trailing edge of the rolled paper Pr is close to the paper tube, such a portion is strongly curled, whereby the fear of jam in discharging is strong.
Here, as another structural example of the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 10, there is a recording apparatus in which roll folders are arranged at upper and lower stages. In this type of recording apparatus, it is possible to store the same rolled paper in both the upper-stage roller folder and the lower-stage roll folder, and thus perform continuous recording to the rolled papers stored in the upper-stage roller folder and the lower-stage roll folder. Therefore, there is an advantage that, if an amount of ink is enough, a large amount of recording can be performed by an all-night unattended operation or the like without exchanging the rolled paper.
However, as described above, when it is intended to perform continuous recording (printing) to the rolled papers stored in the first-stage roll folder and the second-stage roll folder in due order, if the jam in discharging first occurs at the trailing edge of the rolled paper stored in the upper-stage roll folder, the recording operation is suspended, and thus the continuous recording cannot be performed to the rolled paper stored in the lower-stage roll folder, whereby a problem that the large amount of recording effectively using the plural feed stages cannot be performed occurs.
An object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus which can perform, without any jam in discharging, continuous recording to rolled recording materials respectively stored in roll folders of plural stages.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus which, in a case where absence of a rolled recording material on a supporting means in a storing means is detected during recording to the rolled recording material stored in the storing means, takes up the remaining rolled recording material to the storing means if it is designated that the recording should be performed continuously to a rolled recording material stored in another storing means.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus which, in a case where two or more storing means are designated and continuous recording is performed by using the designated storing means, during the recording to a rolled recording material stored in the storing means other than the storing means designated to be used for the last time in the continuous recording, takes up the rolled recording material into the storing means and performs the continuous recording at a time when the rolled recording material on a supporting means is exhausted.